US to seek rival bids for Artemis 3 as SpaceX lags, NASA chief says

* NASA opens Artemis 3 contract to competition amid SpaceX delays * Duffy cites need to beat China to moon by 2029 * Artemis 2 on track, may launch earlier than planned * Blue Origin and others may join Artemis 3 bidding, Duffy suggests WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) – NASA's top official on Monday said the U.S. space agency was opening up the contract for its Artemis 3 moon mission to compete against SpaceX, which he said was running behind schedule. "I'm in the process of opening that contract up. I think we'll see companies like Blue get involved, and maybe others," NASA administrator Sean Duffy, who also serves as U.S. Transportation secretary, told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. Blue Origin is a SpaceX rival founded by Jeff Bezos. "We're going to have a space race in regard to American companies competing to see who can actually get us back to the moon first." NASA's multibillion dollar Artemis series of missions are aimed at returning humans to the moon as China plans a 2030 astronaut moon landing. Artemis 3 has been planned for 2027 with SpaceX's Starship. But Duffy said billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX was not on schedule and could put the United States behind its rival, with U.S. President Trump wanting to see the mission take place before his White House term ends in January 2029. "They're behind schedule, and so the president wants to make sure we beat the Chinese," Duffy told Fox. Artemis 2, a 10-day flight around the moon and back involving systems built by built by Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, is on track for April and could get moved up to February, he added. Bezos and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp reportedly spoke with Trump over the summer when the Republican president was feuding with Musk, who backed Trump in the 2024 election and went on to lead the broad effort to cut the federal government known as DOGE. Representatives for SpaceX and Blue Origin could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Deborah Sophia and Jaspreet Singh; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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